by Cindy Bell
“Are you free?”
“I can be, for you.”
“Great. I want to have a conversation with Reynold.”
“Oh? Do you want me to meet you?”
“No, I’ll come pick you up.”
“Great, I’ll be ready.”
Samantha hung up the phone and frowned. She’d heard Eddy sound that way before. It usually meant that he was on to something. But why did it involve Reynold? She reminded herself that she had to find a way to be objective. Reynold was a suspect, even if her instincts told her otherwise.
Chapter 13
Samantha made sure she was ready to go when Eddy pulled up at her villa. She went outside and a few minutes later when he arrived she climbed into his car.
“What’s going on? I know that you found out something.”
“Oh yes, I found out two things actually.” He started to drive.
“Well?” She stared at him.
“I’ll tell you soon.”
“Huh? No, I want you to tell me now.”
“Not right now, I’m driving.”
Samantha continued to stare at him. “We talk all of the time while you’re driving. What did you find out?”
“Just be patient, Samantha. I’d rather wait until after we talk to Reynold to tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“I have my reasons.”
“Would you please just tell me?”
“Samantha, anyone ever told you that you are infuriating?”
“Yes, many times, mostly you. That doesn’t answer my question.”
“You don’t trust me?” Eddy asked. “I told you, I have my reasons.” He parked in Reynold’s driveway, just behind his car.
“Okay. I guess.” She sighed and stepped out of the car.
“You knock.” He pointed to the door.
“Why?”
“Samantha!”
“All right, all right.” She hurried up to the door and knocked. After a few minutes Reynold opened the door.
“Samantha hello. How can I help you?”
Samantha stared at him blankly. She had no idea why she was there. “I just wanted to check in with you. I know it was such a shock to find May that way. Are you doing okay?”
“Yes, I’m managing.”
“With Valerie’s help right?” Eddy stepped up beside Samantha.
“What? Oh, Eddy, I didn’t see you there.”
“Wanted to check on you too, Reynold.”
“But we just saw each other this morning.”
“Right, when you were with Valerie.”
“Right.” He lowered his eyes. “What is this about?”
Samantha could only study Reynold’s face as she had no idea why they were there. She noticed that his cheeks flushed, and his lips tightened as Eddy stepped closer to him.
“I’m sorry, I had no idea that this is the second tragic death you’ve witnessed,” Eddy said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He started to step back into the house. “You’ve checked on me, now I need to get some things done.”
“Wait a minute. I just wanted to say, I’m sorry about what happened to your brother.”
“I don’t want to talk about that.” He started to close the door. Samantha slipped a foot into the door before he could.
“It’s okay, John.” Eddy noticed his eyes widen slightly. As he looked at them Eddy noticed a scar above his left eye. Eddy thought that maybe that was the scar May was talking about. “We’re here to listen. Is there anything that you want to tell us?”
“Samantha, kindly remove your foot before I close the door on it. I’ve had enough of your good wishes. Please, just leave me in peace.”
Samantha stepped back and glanced over at Eddy. “He’s right, Eddy. We’ve bothered him enough.”
Eddy nodded and followed her down the driveway back to his car. Once inside, he backed down the driveway.
“Okay spill. What was all of that about? Reynold is dating Valerie? What was that business about his brother?”
“Yes, Reynold is dating Valerie, and Reynold is also Jacob Smith’s brother. The one that was in the boat with him when he drowned. Reynold’s full name is John Reynold Smith. It looks like he goes by his middle name now.”
“From the article?” Samantha’s mouth hung open. “Wait, wait. That means that when May said that Reynold looked just like Jacob, she was talking about the man that drowned and John. They were brothers. But did she know that?”
“I’m not sure. However, I suspect that Daniel might be able to answer that. Why don’t we take a spin by his house?”
“We could do that.” Samantha nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me about all of this before we spoke to Reynold?”
“I didn’t want you to know because I wanted you to be able to see his expressions clearly.”
“Well, I did. For one, he didn’t want anyone knowing that he was dating Valerie, and for two, he didn’t want to speak a word about his brother. He is definitely hiding something.”
“Yes, I agree. But I wanted you to see for yourself. If you knew what I did, it would have been harder for you to gauge what his reaction was like.”
“I understand.”
“I also noticed that he had a scar on his left eyebrow. Do you think that was what May was referring to?”
“Maybe, but lots of people have scars.”
“True.”
“I think it’s time we call a meeting and figure out our next step. Even though Reynold might be involved, this certainly doesn’t eliminate Daniel as a suspect. In fact if he is somehow connected to Jacob’s death, or May is, that makes him even more of a central suspect. The question is who did May print out the article for, Daniel or Reynold?”
“Or maybe, who had the most reason to want that article eliminated, along with the person who printed it.”
Samantha sent a text to Jo.
Update, meet at my house.
She duplicated the text to Walt’s number.
Once everyone arrived Eddy filled them in on the information they’d discovered. Samantha set out a bowl of pretzels and a pitcher of ice water along with some cups. As her friends gathered around the table she couldn’t help but think of May. If only she had asked her more questions about why she wanted to find the article.
In the end there was no way to predict what would happen. Or perhaps May had. Perhaps she sensed danger, and thought the safest place would be with Reynold. It still wrenched her heart to think that Reynold might have been the murderer, even as she comforted him. However, something even darker surfaced in her mind. What if it wasn’t Reynold or Daniel at all?
“I wouldn’t put it past Valerie to be jealous enough to go after May,” Samantha said.
“Just because she was meeting with Reynold?” Walt asked.
“She strikes me as a very possessive person,” Samantha said.
“But enough to kill?” Jo picked up the pitcher and poured a glass of water. “Are they even serious?”
“I think she is a bit more serious than he is.” Eddy grabbed a handful of pretzels. “The way she talked wasn’t exactly reflected in the way he behaved. In fact, he seemed a bit annoyed.”
“And even more annoyed when I found out about it.” Samantha sat down at the table. “I thought she was acting a little off, but now that I know she’s involved with Reynold, and Reynold is somehow involved in all of this, I suspect her even more. However, it’s still hard to believe that she would go so far as to kill May.”
“The problem is we have three prime suspects, and all of them have motive, all of them have opportunity,” Walt said.
“Wait a minute, the only person who actually knew that May would be at the community center was Reynold. Daniel didn’t know. Valerie didn’t know,” Jo said.
“Valerie might have known. Reynold might have told her. And it’s possible that May told Daniel where she would be. Maybe she sa
id that she intended to confront Reynold with the information they knew when they met for coffee that morning,” Walt said.
“Maybe.” Samantha pursed her lips. There was something on the edge of her mind that she knew was important. “How did they get in?”
“What do you mean? Wasn’t the door unlocked?”
“It shouldn’t have been. It was too early for it to be open. Don’t you think?”
“I never really thought about that.” Jo narrowed her eyes. “It was a bit early for the doors to be open.”
“But Valerie is on the decorating committee, which means that she has a key,” Samantha said. “I still have one from when I helped with the trivia night last month.”
“You think she opened the door?” Jo said.
“Maybe May planned to meet Reynold outside like Reynold said, but found the door open, and went inside. Maybe Valerie was waiting for her.”
“That makes sense.” Walt nodded. “If the door was cracked open, May might have been inquisitive enough to look inside.”
“But again, if she planned all of this out, why would she do it in such a public place, and why wouldn’t she be prepared with a more convenient murder weapon,” Jo said.
“What we need is a single piece of evidence that points us in the right direction.” Eddy shook his head. “The problem is, we’re running out of places to find that evidence. We already checked Daniel’s house and other than the financial issues, he was clean. Nothing to show that he wanted to harm his sister, nothing to show that he knows anything about Jacob’s death that he would want to cover up.”
“We didn’t check his car!” Samantha snapped her fingers. “Maybe the evidence is in there. Remember? We took my car when we went for coffee. He even said that we couldn’t take his.”
“Yes, that’s true.” Walt frowned. “But what could we find in his car?”
“Who knows! If he was trying to hide things, maybe he would keep them out of his house. He had to know the police would question and investigate him when his sister was killed,” Samantha said. “So, maybe he stowed whatever incriminating evidence he has in the car to hide it. When I was actively reporting I always lived out of my car. It’s the one thing that we overlooked.”
“I did.” Jo nodded. “You’re right. I had the perfect opportunity, too, as he was already gone. I’m sorry that I didn’t think of it.”
“Jo, please don’t apologize, you did everything you were supposed to and got us lots of information.” Walt cringed. “I hate to think of what might have been living in your car right along with you, Samantha.”
“Me too.” Samantha laughed. “Looking back on it now, it definitely grosses me out. It’s worth a shot. It might hold that one piece of evidence that we need.”
“Okay, then it’s settled, we’ll go take a look at his car.” Jo smiled. “It will only take me a few seconds to get in.”
“No.” Eddy shook his head. “We’re not going to break into it.”
“Why not?” Jo glanced over at him.
“Because there are other ways we can get in. We can’t always fall back on the same bad habit to get information.”
“Bad habit?” Jo crossed her arms. “Do you really want to go down that road?”
“I don’t mean it that way, Jo, you know I don’t. Try not to be so defensive.”
“Considering I’m the only one that’s spent time in prison, I think it’s fair for me to be a little defensive.”
“She’s right.” Walt nodded. “Jo has more at risk than the rest of us.”
“That’s clear, but my point is, we’re engaging in risky behavior when we don’t need to. I don’t want any of us to end up behind bars, least of all Jo. If we take some time to consider it, I’m sure there’s a ploy that we can use to get into the car without having to break in. What do you think? Can we make more of an effort to make things legal and less risky?” Eddy said.
“I’m all for it.” Walt nodded.
“It will take a lot longer.” Jo sighed.
Samantha looked around at her friends and knew that all of them were waiting to hear her opinion on the situation. She took a deep breath and looked into Eddy’s eyes. “I think Eddy is right. We are treading awfully close to being just as criminal as the criminals we talk about. After all, we don’t know for certain that Daniel is the murderer, and we have already broken into his home. So, if we can come up with a viable plan that will give us a look around his car, I think we owe it to ourselves to give it a shot. Otherwise we may begin to lose ourselves, lose our moral compass.”
“Moral compass?” Jo laughed.
“Stop.” Walt narrowed his eyes. “We all have morals, otherwise we wouldn’t be trying to do this for May. Jo, you left that life behind you, and we shouldn’t be encouraging you to relive it, when we can just as easily work together to prevent you from being put in that position.”
“I’ve heard this routine before.” Jo pursed her lips as she looked at Walt. “I know what you really think of me, Walt, and I appreciate how much you care. But this is a silly argument, over breaking into a car. I will handle it.”
“No.” Eddy locked eyes with her. “The answer is no. We’re not breaking into it.”
“Sure Eddy, boss, whatever you say.” Jo stood up and saluted him.
“Jo, don’t be upset. We’re only trying to do things right,” Eddy said.
“Well then, I guess you don’t need the ex-con around.” She turned towards the door and without another word walked out of the villa.
Samantha frowned. “Eddy, look what you did.”
“Me? You agreed with me.”
“Because I was trying to be supportive.”
“I still say I’m right.” He sat back in his chair. “If we’re going to be Jo’s friends we shouldn’t be leaning on her every time the law needs to be broken.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine once we figure out how to get into the car without breaking in. I’m going to head home and think about it,” Walt said.
“I’m going to look into Valerie a little more. Eddy, could you see if she’s had any run-ins with the law as well? If she really is crazy enough to have killed May out of jealousy, I bet this isn’t the first time that she’s done something irrational.”
“Good point. Sure, I’ll look into it.” Eddy lingered as Walt left the villa. Once he and Samantha were alone he looked over at her.
“Did you really just agree with me to support me?”
“Yes.” She shrugged. “Jo has certain talents, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with her using them.”
“Then you should have said that. Why would you lie for me?”
“It wasn’t really a lie. I do support your opinion, I just don’t think it’s up to us to make the choice for Jo. If she didn’t want to do it, she could have said no.”
“Still, I don’t want you to hide how you feel. Why would you? Did you think I would get mad?”
“No.” She smiled as she met his eyes. “Nothing about you scares me, Eddy. I just felt it was the right thing to show some loyalty, that’s all.”
“Loyalty.” He raised an eyebrow.
“You’re my friend, Eddy. I don’t want to argue with you over everything. I can trust that sometimes with your background you might know a little better about certain things.”
“Interesting. I’ll have to keep that in mind. I’ll let you know if I find out anything about Valerie.”
“Okay, thanks.” She nodded to him as she held open the door for him. Once he left she closed the door and sighed. She sent Jo a quick text about the situation, but when she didn’t get a response she settled down at the computer. She began to search through Valerie’s social media accounts for links with John Reynold Smith, Jacob Smith, as well as Daniel Ewan and May Ewan. She found quite a few pictures with both Valerie and May that were posted in the last couple of years. There was also one with May and Daniel. At first Samantha almost skipped right past it, but something made her go back and look again. As s
he thought, Daniel and Valerie were holding hands in the photograph. Did Valerie have a thing with Daniel as well? She shook her head at the idea, but printed the photograph to refer back to.
As she dug deeper into Valerie’s past she couldn’t find any further connection. From what she could tell she never lived in the same cities as any of the other three, she didn’t attend the same schools. She couldn’t find a single thing that tied them all together, aside from Sage Gardens. She knew that since May and Valerie had been friends at one point there was a chance that she’d gotten to know Daniel. Unfortunately, the only way to know for sure was to either ask Valerie or Daniel and she doubted that either was going to be very forthcoming with an answer. She decided since she had a little time she would still make an effort. First she attempted to call Valerie. However, her phone went straight to voicemail.
“Hi Valerie, it’s Samantha. I just had something I wanted to talk with you about. You know, girl talk. Call me back if you get a chance. Thanks!” She hung up the phone and wondered if she had poured on the sugar a little too heavily. Would Valerie be able to tell that she was up to something just from her overly sweet tone of voice? She cleared her throat and decided to exercise a little more caution with Daniel. She dialed his number, fully prepared to hear another voicemail message. Instead he answered the phone.
“Hi Samantha.” She was so surprised to hear his voice that she didn’t answer at first. “This is Samantha, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is, I’m sorry. I had something caught in my throat.”
“Oh wow, that’s not good, are you all right?”
“Yes, I am now.”
“Good. Glad to hear that. I’m also glad that you called.”
“You are?”
“Sure, I’ve been waiting for this call.”
“What do you mean?”
“I sensed a connection between us when we went out for coffee. I know that you sensed it, too. So, I figured it would just be a matter of time before you decided to call. You held out longer than I expected.”
“Oh yes, of course. I wasn’t sure if you’d felt that, too.”
“Yes, I did. It’s quite strong. We have some very serious chemistry between us. So the question is, what are we going to do about that?”